Because of the large explosion, everyone found themselves being sent flying off the island and to another one off in the distance. Unlike the other island, however, this one was at a higher elevation. Chopper was the first to land on the small, grassy plains of the island face-first. Everyone else landed in the same fashion as him.
"Ooooog... What in the world was that?" Chopper moaned, slowly getting up. He noticed a couple of bushes around him, along with a grassy incline just up ahead. Waiting for him near the next pathway was a Save Block and Heart Block. "Oh... Well this is interesting. At least we landed somewhere with those two things."
Mario was the next to get up. He looked behind him and noticed the elevation they were at compared to the other islands. This wasn't anything special to him. After all, he had traveled through places much higher than this.
"I'm guessing those Phis had something to do with that bomb," Shadower grumbled, standing up third. "Yeesh... We're lucky to have survived that!"
"Yeah... Lucky..." Chopper sighed, walking up the incline to hit the Heart Block. "25 coins? Wow... The prices on these Heart Blocks really are rising! Why can't they just be free like they were before?"
Mario: I'm not so sure...
After the rest of the group managed to get up, the heroes decided to push onward into the next area. They ended up stumbling upon a short wall that looked like they could get over if they had enough height. Chopper got on Mario's shoulders and used their spin ability to reach the ledge. A Sun Phi was waiting for them beside a tree, so they focused on taking care of it first. Once that was over with, the rest of Chopper's friends managed to make their way up to the ledge as well.
"Hey, Chopper..." Shadower trailed, making his way over to him. "There's one thing I think I should mention that might be pretty important."
"What is it?" Chopper asked, looking a bit curious.
"I apologize for not telling you this before, but there's more to me than just turning you invisible. My eyes can detect hidden things such as blocks, and they also help me see in the dark with ease. I know I should've said this before, but I thought it would be best to bring it up now, since I see a hidden block nearby."
Chopper's antennae sprung up with curiosity as Shadower pointed to the hidden block near the tree. Smiling, he walked under the block and gave it a good punch to reveal a single coin, making him sweat drop. But regardless of that, they ended up stumbling upon a large gap between them and a pathway up ahead.
"Another gap? Well, I don't think I can get you across that one, Contadre..." Scrub trailed, noticing the distance.
"I don't think I can help either," Berry frowned.
"Guys, don't you see something a little strange with this grassy floor?" Vivian asked, noticing a darker spot nearby. "That might be a clue..."
An idea suddenly struck the Shadow Brother's mind as he gestured Chopper to stand on the dark spot. Shrugging, the antennae hero listened and stepped on it, allowing Shadower to turn him and Chopper invisible and make them phase through the floor into a small underground room. A large Metal Block was discovered to be in the room thanks to Shadower's ability, so Chopper smashed it with his Ultra Hammer technique to reveal a blue ! Switch. Giving it a good kick, a bridge was revealed to be created to connect to the next area.
With the yellow spring leading back outside, the two bounced off it and landed back by their companions.
Mario: What was down there?
"A hidden Metal Block and a blue ! Switch, of course," Chopper answered. "But let's not get into too much detail over that. We've gotta get going!"
Agreeing, his friends followed him to the next area. It was much flatter and didn't contain any gaps or chasms for them to cross, to their relief. There were many trees around that were asking Chopper to whack them. However, there was one thing they were not happy to see in front of them.
"Yuk yuk yuk yuk! Well, if it ain't you, Slick! How've you been?"
"Doopliss?!" Shadower gasped.
"Yeah, thanks for knowing my NAME! Not even Beldam would call me by my name!" Doopliss complained annoyingly before turning his attention back to Chopper. "But enough about that. It's been a while, eh, Slick?"
"A while? The last time we saw you was in the Palace of Shadow." Chopper recalled. "I wouldn't consider that to be 'a while'..."
"Yeah, sure," the Duplighost noticed a familiar red plumber standing by Chopper. "Well, if it ain't the other slick I saw a couple of months ago! How ya been? Good? Well, things are about to get bad for you two!"
"Halt!" Doopliss turned around and he saw a Sun Phi standing behind him in a battle position. "You are standing in the way between me and those eight targets that must be exterminated! Leave now, or you shall join them!"
The Sun Phi prepared to charge a shot from its weapon, but Doopliss managed to make his move first and rammed into the robot, leaving it gravely injured and unconscious. Grinning, Doopliss put his shape-shifting skills to use and transformed into a Sun Phi.
"Oh, no... This isn't good..." Vivian trailed, watching Doopliss turn to them.
"Yuk yuk yuk! Now look at me! I've changed into an awesome robot! Now I'll take care of you people once and for all in this form!"
Doopliss prepared to charge at them, but the sound of a large machine landing and a voice caught him off guard.
"Sun Phi, sir! The Phi Walker is ready to take off at this minute!" an Elite Phi exclaimed as Doopliss slowly turned around to face it. The Elite Phi noticed Chopper and his friends as well. "…Hey! You found Chopper and those other people we don't care about! How 'bout we test it on them?"
"Whoa… What in the world is THAT thing?" Doopliss gaped before trying to badly imitate the Sun Phi's voice. "Er… I mean, yeah! Let's test it on 'em! Good idea, robot person!"
Everyone saw a giant golden machine with four legs, a turret on the top, and a cockpit standing in front of them. It was also armed with missiles and even machine guns. It was the perfect machine for any meatbag-exterminating job!
"That… That thing's big!" Shadower gaped, watching Doopliss fly into the cockpit and take control of it - though he was left confused with the button layout.
"Let's see for a minute… What buttons are for what?" Doopliss pressed an orange button, and it fired a huge blue laser at an island, destroying it in the process. "Whoa... That's awesome."
"That's not good..." Berry trailed, her eyes widened while staring at the destroyed island.
"Poyo... (No kidding...)" Kirby agreed, having the same expression as her.
Mario, however, chose not to back down and got his hammer ready. Seeing the motivation in him, the rest of the group got in their fighting stances as well.
"Mario's right, guys! We shouldn't have to back down to something like this! I mean, we beat the Shadow Queen for crying out loud!" Chopper exclaimed. "If we can do that, then this thing should be no problem whatsoever!"
"Ye are goin' to get what's comin', matey!" Bombette exclaimed, lighting up her fuse.
"Oh, boy! Have I been waiting for the time to flatten you out, Slick!" Doopliss cackled. "Prepare yourselves, for it'll be your last!"
An Elite Phi hovered down to the turret and took control of it. "All right, Chopper! Time for some pain!"
Tattle: That's a Phi Walker. This thing is BIG! It even looks heavily armored too! Max HP is 80, Attack is 8, and Defense is 2. That turret can be a big problem too. It's got 30 HP and an Attack of 6. It fires multiple shots at you that can take out a lot from you! I would highly recommend taking out that turret first before focusing on the whole machine itself. It's a weird vehicle, simply put. I don't know what to say about it…
"Hmmm… What to start with? Hmmm…" Chopper pondered, looking at both the cockpit and the turret. "If we attack the cockpit, then it would be much quicker to take this thing out, but that turret seems dangerous too..."
"Let me try to lower the Phi Walker's defense and hit the turret too," Shadower suggested, twirling his hand and striking the Phi Walker and the turret with his Shadow Smite, lowering the machine's defense and dealing 6 damage to the turret.
"OK! Let's get started!" Chopper began to start by using his Ultra Ice Hand attack and began to fire multiple ice balls at the Phi Walker and the turret, dealing 8 damage to both. The Phi Walker decided to flatten Shadower and deal 8 damage to him. Meanwhile, the Elite Phi manning the turret began to shiver in the process.
"Oh, geez... This is seriously cold..." the Elite Phi shivered before firing rapidly at Chopper. He guarded all six shots, only taking 6 damage rather than 12. Afterward, he became Tornado Chopper and began to spin his body rapidly at both the Phi Walker and the turret. Now the turret was down to 10 HP.
"Wow... I'm surprised the turret is actually starting to smoke." Chopper gawked, seeing the smoke coming out of the turret.
Mario made his move next and performed a jump on the Phi Walker's cockpit. Doopliss, despite not getting hurt from it, couldn't help but cringe after Mario bounced off the machine and landed back by the heroes.
"Grrrrr! Fine! Take this!" Doopliss punched a green button, making the Phi Walker raise one of its legs and bring it down on Mario. The plumber put his guard up and only took 7 damage, while the turret fired a blast at Bombette and dealt 6 damage.
"Ha ha HA! That was great!" the Elite Phi exclaimed as the Phi Walker's defense returned to 2.
Vivian raised her finger and scorched both the Phi Walker and the turret with her Fiery Jinx, leaving the turret at 6 HP and the Phi Walker with a burn.
"This should finish it!" Chopper smiled, firing a large amount of ice balls at the walker and the turret. Both the turret and the Elite Phi blew up in the process.
"Hold on… Wha? You…destroyed the turret?" Doopliss gaped. "No way! This isn't right! No no no no! …No way! I'm not going to go out like that!"
"Doopliss... We can always stop here." Vivian noted. "We don't have to continue this."
"Yeah, I agree," Chopper nodded. "We can just end this here."
"No way, Slick! It's far from over! Take this!" Doopliss made the Phi Walker fire a small red laser at Scrub, knocking him back. Chopper was about to run over to him, but he appeared to get up all right.
"It's all right, Contadre, I'm fine," Scrub assured.
"OK... Anyway, let's see how this thing likes a Power Bounce!" Chopper jumped onto the Phi Walker and started his Power Bounce. He managed to jump on it ten times
Mario rushed over to the Phi Walker next and attacked with a Super Jump. He left a trail of sparkles behind as he leaped in the air and struck the walker. This only angered Doopliss more as he tried to shoot a laser at them, only for them to dodge it thanks to their Superguard. On the plus side for Doopliss, the machine's burn effect had faded away.
"What?! No fair!" Doopliss whined as Chopper spun in a tornado and struck the walker, while Berry reduced the Phi Walker's HP down to 28 with her Ruby Throw. This, however, did not stop him from flattening the girl with the Phi Walker's large foot.
After Chopper attacked it with another tornado, Kirby floated above the Phi Walker's cockpit and turned into a stone in an attempt to crush it. This left some of the cockpit's glass cracked.
"Great… I knew this wouldn't work! Gotta try something else…" Doopliss looked over at a green button and pressed it, making a green laser hit Chopper and remove his Tornado ability.
"Crud... This isn't good..." Chopper grumbled. "But I don't think it's all over just yet!"
He ran up to the Phi Walker and bashed it with his hammer. Mario had done the same thing and brought the Phi Walker down to 10 HP. At this point, some static and smoke began to emit from the machine, leaving Doopliss worried.
However, he still chose not to give up and let the Phi Walker shoot a missile at Mario, but that did little in stopping him. Once Chopper attacked with another Power Bounce, the Phi Walker was reduced to 4 HP.
"HEY! No fair, Slick!" Doopliss cried.
"Sorry, but you chose not to end this earlier, so you should've seen this coming," Chopper stated. "OK, Mario! Go for it!"
Mario gave him a nod and ran up to the Phi Walker. Leaving a trail of sparkles behind, he leaped in the air and delivered the final blow to the Phi Walker. The smoke and sparks became even greater, leaving Doopliss worried.
"Uh oh…"
With one bright flash, the Phi Walker exploded, sending Doopliss flying in the air. Chopper, meanwhile, was rewarded with 34 Star Points, along with a level up. After upgrading his BP to 33, the heroes noticed Doopliss land in front of them face-first. Along with that, he transformed back into himself.
"Hnnurgh… That certainly wasn't a good idea…" Doopliss mumbled before jumping back up. Seeing the heroes still in their fighting stances, he stepped back. "OK, OK… I give up. There's no need to attack me again! I got beaten, big deal! That doesn't mean I'm truly finished! For now, sure, but I'm certainly going to be back!"
"Hold on… Are you and my sisters still evil after the Shadow Queen's death?" Vivian asked.
"You bet we are! Yuk yuk yuk! There's more to our plan than you think - which I'm not even going to tell you about! No, that's not a good idea! But listen here, Slick! I'm going to play rough on you next time! Remember that!"
Doopliss ran past them and jumped off the island and into the water. Unfortunately, that was a bad move on his part, as a shark fin rose up from the water and began to chase after him, forcing him to swim for his life. As Kirby watched, he couldn't help but remember something from the past.
"Poyo! (Phew! At least that wasn't ME who was getting chased!)" Kirby sighed. "Poyo! (I mean, back in Orange Ocean, I got chased by a shark! …Come to think of it, this place does remind me of Orange Ocean a little…)"
"Yeah, it does have that Orange Ocean feeling, doesn't it? It's strange… Oh well, all we can do is see what's up ahead! Better not be more of those Phis…" Chopper approached one of the trees and gave it a good whack, causing a Tropical Fruit to drop down. He smiled as he picked it up, but that wasn't the only thing that came out.
"Holy… These guys again?" Chopper gaped, staring at the orange Sun Buzz Bomber. "What are THEY doing here?"
"We haven't seen them in a while..." Vivian realized.
"Yeesh... So many recolored enemies. This is so lazy!" Chopper complained, jumping on the Sun Buzz Bomber to destroy it. He was about to say something else until he found a Waddle Dee holding a red and white-striped parasol. Pondering for a moment, he walked over to the Waddle Dee and inhaled it, giving him the same type of parasol as the Waddle Dee after swallowing it.
"Wait... So, what happened to you?" Shadower asked. "You got an ability where your physical appearance isn't anything different."
"Yeah, I always found that strange... But I do like this parasol! Anyway, let's move on."
They didn't find much around the area except for a waterfall nearby that was flowing down to a lower section of the island. The background was a little different too, having a big waterfall coming down from an island behind the ocean.
"That is one nice sunset there!" Scrub smiled, staring at the sunset in the background. "And that waterfall makes me really thirsty! I think I'm going to have a little drink!"
He walked over to the waterfall, closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out. What he didn't realize, however, was that he was standing by the edge of the floor with a slippery incline down below.
"Wait! Scrub! Hold it!" Chopper shouted, noticing the edge. Scrub opened his eyes, and he accidentally fell down the waterfall and began to slide down the incline. He tried up climb up, but it was too slippery for him.
"Contadre! I can't get up!" Scrub cried.
"Uh oh… Not good! I gotta go after him! I don't want to look like a bad parent!" Chopper leaped off the ledge and used his parasol to slowly float down. Unfortunately, he was doing this while the waterfall was pouring down on him, making the parasol practically useless.
"Oh, crud..." Chopper gulped, falling down onto the slippery incline and sliding down after Scrub. He was actually used to this, considering that he had encountered slippery slides like this in the past.
"Wow! This IS fun!" Scrub cheered, enjoying the ride as he fell off the incline and landed on another slippery incline moving at a downward left. Chopper landed on the same one and tried his best to catch up to him.
"I say we give 'em a hand! We can't do anything else now, can we? I'm goin' to go help 'em!" Bombette declared, jumping off the ledge and sliding down the slippery incline.
"What the heck is she DOING?!" Shadower asked in bewilderment. "She can't save someone when she has no arms!"
"Let's just hope she's all right," Berry said, though she happened to see the Bob-omb tumbling down instead. "I would go down there to help them, but I think it would be a bit too late for that..."
The slippery incline eventually led to the water, and in that water was a giant Blooper that was much bigger than Bloopink. When Scrub noticed this Blooper, his eyes widened in shock.
"Bloobloobloop! (Hey! What's going on?)" the Blooper asked, looking up and seeing the Yoshi. "...Bloobloobloop! (…Hold the phone! It's some Yoshi, some weird pale green kid and a Bob-omb! Who do they think they are, disturbing me? All I want is peace and quiet, jeez!)"
"Crud! No! No! No! No no no no no no no no no no no no no no!" Scrub shouted, trying his best to flutter. Unfortunately, as a baby, his fluttering was not so good. Chopper ended up falling on top of him, pushing him closer to the Blooper, but it was Bombette that pushed them even further. The three expected the worse to come and closed their eyes.
Surprisingly, however, they did not feel a splash. Opening their eyes, they noticed the Blooper managed to catch the three.
"By Gravy's locker! This sea squid is huge!" Bombette gaped.
"Well, I guess it's game over for us..." Scrub gulped. "Sorry to disappoint you, Contadre..."
"Don't worry, Scrub, it's fine," Chopper assured, noticing the Blooper staring at them.
"Bloobloobloop! (Who do you think you people are, trying to disturb my rest?)" the Blooper asked while glaring at them.
"Ummm… What is the Blooper saying?" Scrub asked, only to receive shrugs from Chopper and Bombette.
"Bloobloobloop! (It's not easy being the God of Bloopers, you know… OK, maybe sleeping all day isn't such a hard thing. But still! You don't just wake someone in the middle of their sleep!)"
"Listen! I know we can't understand a thing you're saying, but we didn't MEAN to wake you up!" Chopper apologized. "It's just all a big mistake, Mr. Blooper! I can assure you that Scrub just wanted a drink, and he accidentally fell and began to slip down here."
The Blooper took a look at Chopper for a moment, causing it to look surprised. "Hmmm… Hold on a second… This boy… Why do I recognize him from somewhere? He reminds me of that lime green blonde kid with a green hat that came here... How old was he? Thirteen? Yeah, that was it. He looks like him…except for those eyes and the top part of his head… and his feet too."
"Listen to me, little boy!" the Blooper exclaimed in a godly voice. "You remind me of some other boy..."
"WHOA… Contadre! This Blooper's talking to us! It's…REALLY weird!" Scrub gaped.
"I look like someone?" Chopper questioned.
"Yeah, you kinda do, except you have two antennae, while he had blonde hair. Perhaps you're a descendant of him? Hmmm… The Gods were talking about the descendant of the Chosen One…but he has not yet showed up. Now that I get a better look at you… You could be 'the one'…"
"What? Ye say that Chopper's the Chosen One?" Bombette gawked. "The Chosen One of what, I may ask?"
"Why… The one who will save the universe from the evil darkness, that's what! The Sun Star you're seeking is a little far on another island. I can help you get to a cave where you can easily get to said island."
The Blooper brought the three of them by a tree on a grassy plain on a lower elevation leading to a cave. "Follow this cave, and you will find the next island."
"Could you do us a favor and help our other friends at the top of that waterfall get over here?"
"What's that? You have friends with you too? I suppose I should bring them here as well! Hang on just a second…" The Blooper raised his tentacles up and flailed them around, causing the rest of Chopper's friends to be transported over to them. When they saw the giant Blooper, their eyes widened in shock, but Chopper assured them that it wasn't evil.
"Follow the route in the cave and you should be there in no time!" the Blooper informed. "…Just watch out for any enemies in there. Lotsa monsters in there. Lotsa monsters… I'd be careful for them monsters. And now… Farewell!"
The Blooper returned to its slumber and began to snore loudly, annoying a few of the heroes in the process. However, the snoring was interrupted when they heard a couple of voices coming from the cave up ahead. It sounded very snarky and greedy.
"Wah ha ha ha ha ha! I'm the best! …And I got all of this money!"
Mario: That voice sounds very familiar...
"You know who's saying that?" Berry asked, receiving a nod from Mario afterward.
"What ever it is, we might as well check it out," Chopper suggested, slowly walking into the cave. The first thing they discovered was a small room with a bunch of treasure, including golden coins and treasure chests. The annoying laughter appeared to be coming from in the chests and coins, leaving the heroes alarmed.
"Who could these people be?" Vivian wondered.
A fat man in yellow and in purple overalls popped out from the coins, and a skinny, purple man in black overalls came out of the chest. They were laughing hysterically and tossed some coins in the air.
"What the… Who the heck ARE these guys?" Shadower gawked. "Mario? Do you know them?"
Mario face palmed at the two plumbers before giving them an explanation on who they were.
"They're Wario and Waluigi?" Vivian asked. "But why are they in a place like this and not the Mushroom Kingdom?"
Mario: I wish I knew...
"Wah? What is my rival Mario doing here?" Wario turned around and saw Mario face palming. "Oh, so you came here to take all my riches, huh? Well sorry, plumber! Wario here is number one! The treasure's all mine, so take a hike!"
"And go back to your cowardly brother!" Waluigi taunted. "Then again, why don't you gimme a picture of him looking scared so I can laugh at it all day?"
"Wow... I don't know what to say..." Chopper trailed.
"He's got some friends here as well!" Wario exclaimed. "Come to take the money from me too? Well, here's an answer for your troubles!"
"Ummm… What is he doing?" Berry asked, noticing Wario's constipated look. Many others were suddenly alarmed - except for Chopper, who was unaware of what was going on.
"Why are you guys so shocked?" Chopper asked innocently.
Mario: RUN!
Upon seeing Mario dash past Wario and Waluigi, the others listened and followed the red plumber further through the cave. As they ran, they heard the sound of what they believed to be a trombone on fortississimo. Looking behind them, they could all see a large, yellowish brown cloud filling up the cavern.
"I didn't know he could create an explosion with music," Chopper remarked.
"Wah ha ha ha ha!" Wario cackled, the gaseous clouds slowly fading away. "How'd you like that, Mario? Smells very garlic-" the moment his eyes opened, he noticed their disappearance. "...Hey! Where'd you go?!"
Meanwhile, Waluigi puffed up his cheeks as his face turned green. With his left hand, he covered his mouth, while his right pinched his pose. "Mama mia! You've ruined the cash!"
"What're you talking about? There's nothing wrong with the smell or the cash!" Wario grinned, laying in the pile of cash and taking another whiff. "Ooh! That is a nice smell!"
Next part of the cave-
After their escape from the smelly explosion, Chopper found a way down that led to a flowing river. A couple of rocks happened to be floating in the water as well. To make things easier for him, Chopper used his parasol to slowly land on one of the rocks.
"Good thing I have this," Chopper smiled. "So, I'm guessing this cave leads to the next island..."
"Poyo. (I think so. I kinda wish I had that parasol though..." Kirby trailed, jumping and taking in some air to float down softly. Looking down at the water, they noticed how fast the current was moving. They knew it was better for them not to go in.
Crossing the rock platforms, they noticed a couple of red, robotic fish called Choppers jump out of the water. Chopper easily took care of one of the Choppers with a single whack from his hammer.
"Honestly… There's nothing around this cave. What gives?" Chopper sighed disappointingly. "I was hoping there would be some kind of maze!"
Before he could ramble on, though, he and his friends noticed a light at the end of the cave.
"Whoa… What's through there? It looks like…it's something beautiful!" Scrub gaped. "Dude, we NEED to go check that out!"
"Good idea, Scrub. We should do that!" Chopper took a step back, and he charged toward the waterfall at the end of the tunnel and jumped out. Mario was next to jump and soon everyone else followed him.
If that Blooper was correct, they were not too far from the ninth Crystal Star now.